"Arca Nova"
creates mystical
theater experience

BY JORDAN KINZLER
Published August 10-17, 2000

At one point in time, all theater strove to be ritual. That is, theater was clearly understood as a process in which a group of people might become connected to a heightened sense of being, and as a result, become more deeply connected to each other.

Contemporary mainstream theater certainly has the ability to do this, but often falls short, perhaps due to the pressure to be financially successful. It's rare for a theater piece to attempt to facilitate an experience of the sacred. North American Cultural Laboratory's (NACL) recent production of "Arca Nova" did just that.

Teeming with energy, the performance utilized aesthetically beautiful physical performance and mystical music in exploring the text of the "Book of Genesis." "Enchanting," "awe-inspiring" and "ecstatic" are vain attempts to describe what was truly an indescribable experience. The feeling was well beyond words.

The performance incorporated acrobatics, stilt-walking, dance, chanting, and surreal costuming. But what really made "Arca Nova" special was the performers' cultivation of awareness and an intimacy between themselves and the audience. The theater space was alive with sensitivity and alertness.

This stimulated sense of being is what the members of the NACL strive for in their work. Their primary development takes place off stage, where they rigorously practice physical and vocal exercises for the development of increased awareness.

That they have developed an ability to exist in this sacred space while projecting outwardly is what makes their performance truly special. "Arca Nova" developed a situation in which audience members were reminded of where that scared space is, enabling willing audience members to go there themselves. It was so that audience members became as inspiring when contemplated as that which was taking place on-stage.

The perfonnance was able to bring a vitality and a richness to an ancient narrative that many find difficult to relate to in our modern age. The result was a temporary deepening of my own relationship with the text.

Rather than searching for meaning in literal interpretations of biblical scenarios, coming up with black and white moral lessons, the performers explored the visceral, energetic dynamic of the biblical world's relationship with God. The performers made a claim to their right as human beings to breath the same rarefied air that would have filled the lungs of early biblical characters who felt the presence of God in their every action.

"Arca Nova" went a long way in bringing an esoteric knowledge into performance, and ultimately, into real life.

click here to read the Village Voice Arca Nova review

Back to Reviews